Over 9,000 villages in Northeast yet to get mobile connectivity

Centre gives nod to project for providing 4G mobile services in uncovered villages

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: At a time when high-speed 5G mobile services have been launched in Guwahati (Assam), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Imphal (Manipur), Shillong (Meghalaya), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kohima and Dimapur (Nagaland), and Agartala (Tripura), there are still more than 9,000 villages in the Northeast where mobile connectivity still remains a distant dream. Moreover, even now, all mobile towers in the north-eastern region cannot provide high-speed internet (3G/4G) service.

This has been reflected in the statistics provided by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. However, the Union Cabinet has approved a project for the saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country, including the north-eastern states. In addition, villages having only 2G/3G connectivity will be upgraded to 4G under this project.

The government, through funding from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), is implementing various schemes for providing mobile network coverage in all remaining uncovered villages of the country, including the north-eastern states. As per statistics, there are a total of 45,934 villages in the Northeast. Among them, 36,608 villages have mobile connectivity, while 9,326 villages do not have any mobile coverage. Also, out of the 36,608 villages that have mobile connectivity, 35,817 villages get high-speed internet through 3G/4G services.

In Assam, a total of 1,370 mobile towers were installed by various mobile service providers in 2020. In 2021, 2,313 mobile towers were installed and in 2022, 1,502 mobile towers were installed.

According to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the reasons for not having mobile coverage in some villages include, inter-alia, remote and tough terrain, areas diversely located with scattered population and commercially non-viable operations.

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